David Bronstein died earlier this month at his home in Minsk, Belarus. Born near Kiev in the Ukraine, Bronstein was at the forefront of the postwar generation of Soviet grandmasters, playing an exciting new brand of highly tactical and strategically complex chess.
The pinnacle of Bronstein's competitive career was winning through the then new FIDE qualification cycle to challenge the formidable Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Championship title in Moscow in 1951. The tense and hard fought match was drawn 12-12, with Botvinnik retaining his title. While many other successes followed, Bronstein never again reached that level - perhaps because the sporting aspect of chess took second place for him to the artitistic. More than any other player before and perhaps since, his games were filled with new ideas and the fresh treatment of known positions, occasionally at the expense of his results.
As well as his games, Bronstein's legacy to chess players includes his justly famous books International Grandmaster Tournament, 200 Open Games, and The Sorcerers Apprentice, along with his many articles as chess correspondent for the Russian newspaper Izvestia. In the first of these, his frank and penetrating analysis of all the games of the Zurich Candidates tournament of 1953 was a landmark in chess writing.
I first encountered a Bronstein game in Murray Chandler's Listener column in 1981 and immediately became a life-long fan. The game is given below and is from the Keres Memorial tournament of the same year in Tallinn, with Bronstein playing White against another strong Soviet grandmaster, Eduard Gufeld. Today's diagram is from Bronstein's key victory over Paul Keres in the final round of the 1950 Candidates tournament.
1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 d6 5.e4 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 Nh5 8.c3 e6 9.Nb3 ---
Bronstein often played offbeat openings such as the Torre Attack, as he liked to force his opponent onto their own devices as early as possible. Here he comes up with an original manouvre to make room on d2 for the Nf3, unblocking the f-pawn and the queen's attack on h5. 9. --- Nd7 10.Nfd2 Nxg3 11.hxg3 a5 12.a4 O-O 13.Bd3 f5 14.Qe2 Nf6 15.f4 gxf4 16.gxf4 Bd7
Eyeing the weak a-pawn and threatening Qe8. Bronstein responds with an ingenious plan – sacrificing the pawn and more in return for central domination. Typically, castling is not part of it, as both rooks are already developed on their home squares! 17.e5!? Nd5 18.g3 Qe8 19.Kf2 dxe5 20.dxe5 Bxa4 21.Rxa4!? Qxa4 22.Bb5 Qa2 23.Bd7 Ra6
Defending against 24 Bxe6+ winning a piece. We see that White's exchange sacrifice has removed Black's most effective piece, his queen, from the main theatre of action. 24.Rb1 Ne7 25.Qc4! ---
Foreseeing that the coming exchange of queen's will not lessen White's initiative. 25.--- a4 26.Nc5 Qxc4 27.Nxc4 Ra7 28.Rd1 Rfa8 29.Bxe6+ Kf8 30.g4! ---
Despite his material deficit, White's centralised minor pieces completely dominate. This pawn advance pressages an extremely rare event – a queenless mating attack on a central king! 30.--- b5 31.Ne3 fxg4 32.f5 g3+ 33.Kg2 Nc6 34.Nd7+ Ke8 35.f6 Bf8 36.Nf5 Nd8 37.f7+! Nxf7 38.Nf6 mate
The final position expresses by itself the genius of David Bronstein.
David Bronstein 1924-2006
Problem: White to play and mate in 4.
David Bronstein died earlier this month at his home in Minsk, Belarus. Born near Kiev in the Ukraine, Bronstein was at the forefront of the postwar generation of Soviet grandmasters, playing an exciting new brand of highly tactical and strategically complex chess.
The pinnacle of Bronstein's competitive career was winning through the then new FIDE qualification cycle to challenge the formidable Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Championship title in Moscow in 1951. The tense and hard fought match was drawn 12-12, with Botvinnik retaining his title. While many other successes followed, Bronstein never again reached that level - perhaps because the sporting aspect of chess took second place for him to the artitistic. More than any other player before and perhaps since, his games were filled with new ideas and the fresh treatment of known positions, occasionally at the expense of his results.
As well as his games, Bronstein's legacy to chess players includes his justly famous books International Grandmaster Tournament, 200 Open Games, and The Sorcerers Apprentice, along with his many articles as chess correspondent for the Russian newspaper Izvestia. In the first of these, his frank and penetrating analysis of all the games of the Zurich Candidates tournament of 1953 was a landmark in chess writing.
I first encountered a Bronstein game in Murray Chandler's Listener column in 1981 and immediately became a life-long fan. The game is given below and is from the Keres Memorial tournament of the same year in Tallinn, with Bronstein playing White against another strong Soviet grandmaster, Eduard Gufeld. Today's diagram is from Bronstein's key victory over Paul Keres in the final round of the 1950 Candidates tournament.
1.Nf3 g6
2.d4 Nf6
3.Bg5 Bg7
4.Nbd2 d6
5.e4 h6
6.Bh4 g5
7.Bg3 Nh5
8.c3 e6
9.Nb3 ---
Bronstein often played offbeat openings such as the Torre Attack, as he liked to force his opponent onto their own devices as early as possible. Here he comes up with an original manouvre to make room on d2 for the Nf3, unblocking the f-pawn and the queen's attack on h5.
9. --- Nd7
10.Nfd2 Nxg3
11.hxg3 a5
12.a4 O-O
13.Bd3 f5
14.Qe2 Nf6
15.f4 gxf4
16.gxf4 Bd7
Eyeing the weak a-pawn and threatening Qe8. Bronstein responds with an ingenious plan – sacrificing the pawn and more in return for central domination. Typically, castling is not part of it, as both rooks are already developed on their home squares!
17.e5!? Nd5
18.g3 Qe8
19.Kf2 dxe5
20.dxe5 Bxa4
21.Rxa4!? Qxa4
22.Bb5 Qa2
23.Bd7 Ra6
Defending against 24 Bxe6+ winning a piece. We see that White's exchange sacrifice has removed Black's most effective piece, his queen, from the main theatre of action.
24.Rb1 Ne7
25.Qc4! ---
Foreseeing that the coming exchange of queen's will not lessen White's initiative.
25.--- a4
26.Nc5 Qxc4
27.Nxc4 Ra7
28.Rd1 Rfa8
29.Bxe6+ Kf8
30.g4! ---
Despite his material deficit, White's centralised minor pieces completely dominate. This pawn advance pressages an extremely rare event – a queenless mating attack on a central king!
30.--- b5
31.Ne3 fxg4
32.f5 g3+
33.Kg2 Nc6
34.Nd7+ Ke8
35.f6 Bf8
36.Nf5 Nd8
37.f7+! Nxf7
38.Nf6 mate
The final position expresses by itself the genius of David Bronstein.
1-0
Solution:1 Qh6+!! Qxb1+ 2 Kh2 Rg8 3 Qxh7+! Kxh7 4 Rh4#.